Dictionary

nappyheaded en · ADJ

Etymology

From nappyhead + -ed.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, slang) Of a person, having kinky or tightly curled hair.
   • These debates about the n-word and the direction of hip-hop reached a new level of fervor following the April 2007 on-air remarks by radio shock jock Don Imus, who referred to the mostly black women's basketball team of Rutgers University as "nappy-headed hos." 2007, Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Hip-Hop Revolution, The Culture and Politics of Rap, page 66:
   • figure we would end up taking her no way, 'cause the last thing I wanted was somebody's brood of bad-assed, nappy-headed children to have to scrub up behind. 1990, Marsha Hunt, Joy, page 35:
   • "Okay. Let me go break the news to Wertham that what he really wants to do is work until closing time instead of laying that nappyheaded high yaller from midnight on." 1953, Ann Petry, The Narrows, page 313:
   • "Poor, black, nappyheaded," Hayes never knew his father (says, "I haven't seen him since I was 1 ½ years old"), and his mother died when he was very young. 1971, Chester Higgins, “Black Moses Of Today's Black Music”, in Jet, volume 39, number 19, page 58:

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